th<\/sup> century \u2014 a time of truly colorful and entertaining verbiage<\/a>. These old-fashioned put-downs have a flair that modern insults lack \u2014 they\u2019re clever, nuanced, descriptive, and quite amusing (at least to the issuer and those who overhear, if not to the receiver!).<\/p>\nBelow we\u2019ve put together 50 of our favorite old-time put-downs, with their original definitions pulled directly from dictionaries published more than a century back (with some slight tweaking for added clarity). Some have gone completely extinct from our language, while others are merely endangered; you may have heard them before, but they\u2019re terribly underused. All are worthy of a revival.<\/p>\n
And as a bonus, we\u2019ve also included a section of unique insults issued by none other than Theodore Roosevelt \u2014 a man who never suffered fools, or white-livered weaklings, lightly.<\/p>\n
1. Afternoon Farmer<\/h3>\n
A laggard; a farmer who rises late and is behind in his chores; hence, anyone who loses his opportunities.<\/p>\n
2. All Hat and No Cattle<\/h3>\n
An empty boaster; a man who is all talk and no action.<\/p>\n
3. Blunderbuss<\/h3>\n
A short gun, with a wide bore, for carrying slugs; also, a dumb, blundering fellow.<\/p>\n
4. Cad<\/h3>\n
A mean fellow; a man trying to worm something out of another, either money or information.<\/p>\n
5. Chatterbox or Clack-Box<\/h3>\n
An excessive, incessant talker or chatterer. \u201cClack-box\u201d is the more derisive variation.<\/p>\n
6. Chicken-Hearted<\/h3>\n
Cowardly, fearful.<\/p>\n
7. Chuckle Head<\/h3>\n
Much the same as \u201cbuffle head,\u201d \u201ccabbage head,\u201d \u201cchowder head,\u201d \u201ccod\u2019s head\u201d \u2014 all signifying stupidity and weakness of intellect; a fool.<\/p>\n
8. Cow-Handed<\/h3>\n
Awkward.<\/p>\n
9. Death\u2019s Head Upon a Mop-Stick<\/h3>\n
A poor, miserable, emaciated fellow. He looked as pleasant as the pains of death.<\/p>\n
10. Duke of Limbs<\/h3>\n
A tall, awkward fellow.<\/p>\n
11. Dunderhead<\/h3>\n
Blockhead.<\/p>\n
12. Fop, Foppish, Foppling, Fop-doodle<\/h3>\n
A man of small understanding and much ostentation; a pretender; a man fond of show, dress, and flutter; an impertinent: foppery is derived from fop, and signifies the kind of folly which displays itself in dress and manners: to be foppish is to be fantastically and affectedly fine; vain; ostentatious; showy, and ridiculous: foppling is the diminutive of fop, a fool half-grown; a thing that endeavors to attract admiration to its pretty person, its pretty dress, etc. In composition it makes fop-doodle, a fool double-distilled; one that provokes ridicule and contempt, who thrusts himself into danger with no other chance than a sound beating for his pains.<\/p>\n
13. Fribble<\/h3>\n
A trifler, idler, good-for-nothing fellow; silly and superficial.<\/p>\n
14. Fussbudget<\/h3>\n
A nervous, fidgety person.<\/p>\n
15. Gadabout<\/h3>\n
A person who moves or travels restlessly or aimlessly from one social activity or place to another, seeking pleasure; a trapesing gossip; as a housewife seldom seen at home, but very often at her neighbor\u2019s doors.<\/p>\n
16. Gasser<\/h3>\n
Braggart.<\/p>\n
17. Gentleman of Four Outs<\/h3>\n
When a vulgar, blustering fellow asserts that he is a gentleman, the retort generally is, \u201cYes, a gentleman of four outs,\u201d that is, without wit, without money, without credit, and without manners.<\/p>\n
18. Ginger-Snap<\/h3>\n
A hot-headed person. <\/strong><\/p>\n19. Go-Alonger<\/h3>\n
A simple, easy person, who suffers himself to be made a fool of, and is readily persuaded to any act or undertaking by his associates, who inwardly laugh at his folly.<\/p>\n
20. Go By the Ground<\/h3>\n
A short person, man or woman.<\/p>\n
21. Gollumpus<\/h3>\n
Large, clumsy fellow.<\/p>\n
22. Greedy Guts<\/h3>\n
A covetous or gluttonous person.<\/p>\n
23. Grumbletonian<\/h3>\n
A discontented person; one who is always railing at the times.<\/p>\n
24. Heathen Philosopher<\/h3>\n
One whose buttocks may be seen through his pocket-hole; this saying arose from the old philosophers, many of whom despised the vanity of dress to such a point as often to fall into the opposite extreme.<\/p>\n
25. Milksop<\/h3>\n
A piece of bread soaked in milk; a soft, effeminate, girlish man; one who is devoid of manliness.<\/p>\n
26. Minikin<\/h3>\n
A little man or woman.<\/p>\n
27. Mollycoddle<\/h3>\n
An effeminate man, one who malingers amongst the women.<\/p>\n
28. Nigmenog<\/h3>\n
A very silly fellow.<\/p>\n
29. Nincompoop<\/h3>\n
A fool.<\/p>\n
30. Ninnyhammer<\/h3>\n
A simpleton.<\/p>\n
31. Poltroon<\/h3>\n
An utter coward.<\/p>\n
32. Rascal<\/h3>\n
A rogue or villain.<\/p>\n
33. Rattlecap<\/h3>\n
An unsteady, volatile person.<\/p>\n
34. Ruffian<\/h3>\n
A brutal fellow; a pugilistic bully.<\/p>\n
35. Rumbumptious<\/h3>\n
Pompous, haughty.<\/p>\n
36. Sauce-Box<\/h3>\n
A bold or forward person.<\/p>\n
37. Scalawag\/Scallywag<\/h3>\n
A rascal.<\/p>\n
38. Seek-Sorrow<\/h3>\n
One who contrives to give himself vexation; a self-tormentor; a hypochondriac.<\/p>\n
39. Scamp<\/h3>\n
A worthless fellow; a rascal.<\/p>\n
40. Scoundrel<\/h3>\n
A man void of every principle of honor.<\/p>\n
41. Shabbaroon<\/h3>\n
An ill-dressed shabby fellow; also, a mean-spirited person.<\/p>\n
42. Skinflint<\/h3>\n
A miser; a covetous wretch, one who, if possible would take the skin off a flint.<\/p>\n
43. Slug-A-Bed<\/h3>\n
Parasite; one that cannot rise in the morning. <\/strong><\/p>\n44. Sneaksby<\/h3>\n
A mean-spirited fellow; a sneaking, cowardly man.<\/p>\n
45. Spoony<\/h3>\n
Foolish, half-witted, nonsensical; it is usual to call a very prating shallow fellow, a \u201crank spoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
46. Stingbum<\/h3>\n
A stingy or ungenerous person.<\/p>\n
47. Unlicked Cub<\/h3>\n
A loutish youth who has never been taught manners; from the tradition that a bear\u2019s cub, when brought into the world, has no shape or symmetry until its mother licks it into form with her tongue; ill-trained, uncouth, and rude.<\/p>\n
48. White-Livered<\/h3>\n
Cowardly, malicious.<\/p>\n
49. Word Grubbers<\/h3>\n
Verbal critics; and also, persons who use hard words in common discourse.<\/p>\n
50. Wrinkler<\/h3>\n
A person prone to lying.
\n<\/a><\/p>\nTheodore Roosevelt\u2019s Insults<\/span><\/h3>\n\n- \u201cBeing who belongs to the cult of non-virility\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cClassical ignoramus\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cFragrant man swine\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cHandshake like a wilted petunia\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cInfernal skunk\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cLittle emasculated mass of inanity\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cA mind that functions at six guinea-pig power\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cMiserable little snob\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cThorough-paced scoundrel\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cWell-meaning, pinheaded, anarchistic crank\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cWhite-livered weakling\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With our archives now 3,500+ articles deep, we\u2019ve decided to republish a classic piece each Sunday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in July 2016. As Lesley M. M. Blume observes in Let\u2019s Bring Back: The Lost Language Edition, while clothing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42274,6,218],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-58395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured","category-leisure"],"featured_image_urls":{"medium_large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Old-Fashioned-Insults-Header-BLANK-768x429.jpg","large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Old-Fashioned-Insults-Header-BLANK-538x280.jpg","aom":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Old-Fashioned-Insults-Header-BLANK-372x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Old-Fashioned-Insults-Header-BLANK-320x179.jpg","reactor-640":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Old-Fashioned-Insults-Header-BLANK-640x357.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58395"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172897,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58395\/revisions\/172897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58395"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=58395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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